Category: Favorite Quotes

Some of my favorite quotes. Usually from books, movies or tv shows. Occasionally from figures throughout history who have summed up some nugget of wisdom in a profound, memorable or entertaining way.

The deep and lovely dark…

Doctor Who - Listen

“The deep and lovely dark. We’d never see the stars without it.”
The Doctor — Doctor Who S08E04 ‘Listen’

The Doctor at the end of a speech about the “superpower” of fear, and the reasons to harness and use it. The character Clara summarizes and expounds on this idea near the end of the episode:

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you? Fear is a superpower. Fear can make you faster and cleverer and stronger. … You’re always going to be afraid, even if you learn to hide it. Fear is like a companion, a constant companion, always there. But it’s okay because fear can bring us together. Fear can bring you home. Fear makes companions of us all.” Clara — Doctor Who S08E04 ‘Listen’

Started re-watching the latest season (season 8 of the new series) of Doctor Who, as the last episode should be coming out in a couple of days. For the most part, I haven’t been a big fan of most of this season, but the first several were pretty good. And the second to last one kind of grabbed my attention too. It’s interesting to note that most of the episodes that I have liked from this season were written or co-written by Moffat. The other episodes haven’t necessarily been bad. They had great acting and production values as usual. It’s just that the writing (the plot and banter) just did not grab me and hold my interest. The first time watching many of them, I got involved doing something else while watching. Still there are quite a few episodes, this one included, that grabbed my from the get go and wouldn’t let go.

Ode To Joy

Friedrich Schiller, German poet & writer (1759-1805)
Friedrich Schiller, German poet & writer (1759-1805)

This poem, (despite its age and that it was written in a foreign language,) is one of my favorite bits of lyric writing. I wish I could “live” what it recommends (I can’t…) but I “feel” the truth in most of it. A small, somewhat altered part of it appears in the final “choral” movement of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. That symphony is also my favorite, and what got me interested in the poem.

When ever I hear that 4th movement or read this poem, it reminds me of my old, blind, now deceased dog, Buddy — who, despite everything, was the most joyful creature. At least he gave me joy…

Below is the entire text of the poem, in both the original German, and in an English translation. I have bolded the one verse that really jumps out at me whenever I read it (the one about Joy driving the wheels of “the Cosmos” (that’s how I read it, anyway 😉 ). Ironically that verse is not in Beethoven’s ninth (though a slightly altered part of the chorus of that verse does appear). I also really like the verse and chorus which precedes my favorite verse, (the one that starts “All creatures drink Joy”) Continue reading Ode To Joy

Define yourself by what you are…

Richard Biggs as Dr. Stephen Franklin in Babylon 5
Richard Biggs as Dr. Stephen Franklin in Babylon 5

Dr. Stephen Franklin: “I realized I always defined myself by what I wasn’t… Always what I wasn’t, never what I was. And when you do that, you miss the moments. And the moments are all we’ve got… I can’t go back, but I can appreciate what I have right now. And I can define myself by what I am instead of what I’m not.”
 
Captain John Sheridan: “What are you?”
 
Franklin: “Alive. Everything else is negotiable.”
Babylon 5, S03E21 “Shadow Dancing” – written by J. Michael Straczynski

Music: Beethoven’s Response to a Critic

Ludwig van Beethoven

Beethoven composed a short (15 minutes long) orchestral work called “Wellington’s Victory” or “The Battle of Vitoria” (Op. 91) in 1813. Wellington’s Victory is now often compared to another famous “battle piece”, namely Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture”, as both call for the use of a large “percussion battery” including muskets and artillery, and by opposite “sides” of the orchestra playing the national themes of the opposing armies.

Like a lot of Beethoven’s work it has been called a hodgepodge of styles and an “atrocious potboiler”. I of course love it! You can listen to it here (with full muskets and cannons, performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by the Herbert Von Karajan,) and judge for yourself.

The reason I bring it up is that I happened to discover a response by Beethoven to similar criticism to this piece that he was receiving in his day. Read on for Beethoven’s Surprising Response→

Swan, not Pig.

“These people who expect to be saints in heaven, though they were not on Earth, have ignored the wisdom of the founders of the great religions. This wisdom is that the kingdom of heaven is within you and that you do not go to heaven unless you are already in it. The magic must be wrought by you and you alone. God has no fairy wand to tap the pig and turn it into a swan.

People ignore this. And those who believe in sinners burning in hell are, perhaps, not so much concerned with going to heaven as with being sure that sinners-–others-–roast forever in the flames.”
― Philip José Farmer

YOU are unique in the Universe

I’ve been re-watching the seventh season of the new Doctor Who series. This extended quote from The Rings of Akhaten written by Neil Cross is really amazing on so many levels. The words were spoken by The Doctor to an innocent little girl who believed it was her destiny to sacrifice her life for her people, but they could have (and should be) spoken to anyone — the bullied, the suicidal… to everyone. Continue reading YOU are unique in the Universe

You Have a Story Worth Telling

You have a story worth telling. First, here is what we’re not entitled to: being listened to by the masses. The honest truth is that attention is earned. But there can be incredible epiphanies that come from telling yourself your story. There are so many possibilities inside you. It’s a worthy thing you do, exploring those paths.

Everybody starts with an audience of one, and nobody has the right to silence you, not even your own inner editor.